Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Kudos to Robb Clifford for bringing to light a bird that even trumps the famous Black Rails down in Pickaway County. Through some odd luck, Robb - who works as a naturalist for Darke County Parks - heard about a bird that sounded like it must be a Burrowing Owl. He ran over to the site, and was able to find the bird and confirm it. I got an email just as I was leaving work late this afternoon and got Robb on the phone as quick as possible. Now that we knew the bird was good, the big issue to address ASAP was the local landowners. Luckily it isn't that far to buzz over there, so Bernie Master and I headed off to meet Robb and see the lay of the land.

To make a long story short, we all met both landowners who own the turf where the owl is, and both are the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. They are fine with any and all birders coming over, and Tom (one of them) even graciously permitted people to park in the driveway of his barn.

To get there, go to Greenville in Darke County (extreme west-central Ohio), take State Rte. 502 west out of town and go a few miles to Springhill Road and turn right (north). This is the last road before the Indiana State line. Follow Springhill to the first road, Wildcat Rd, and turn left (west). Tom's white barn is the first one you'll come to, on the left, and the owl frequents the soybean field just east of his barn. He also often sees it standing right next to the road just east of the barn, by a culvert. The only request is: DO NOT WALK OUT INTO THE BEAN FIELD!

Apparently, the owl has been present for a week, and hopefully without undue disturbance it will stay for a while and all interested parties will get to see it.

Burrowing Owl amongst the soybeans. Sorry for the poor shots, but we couldn't/wouldn't get very near the bird. It is rather skittish, but once spotted can be admired from afar quite nicely through spotting scopes.

Another view. This, amazingly, is the third Ohio record, with the others from 1944 and 1981. Do your best to get over and see this charismatic little beast, and be sure and thank the landowners for their hospitality if you should see them. Also, keep in mind that the bird is very easy to miss in the soybean field. Some persistence and scope work may be required.

Thanks again to Robb Clifford for some excellent heads-up work on bringing this one to light, and be sure and stop by their nature center at Shawnee Prairie Preserve, as you'll probably head right past it anyway. The preserve is on the south side of State Rte. 502 just west of Greenville.

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About Me

I am a lifelong Ohioan who has made a study of natural history since the age of eight or so - longer than I can remember! A fascination with birds has grown into an amazement with all of nature, and an insatiable curiosity to learn more. One of my major ambitions is to get more people interested in nature. The more of us who care, the more likely that our natural world will survive.

About the photos, and permission to use

All photographs on these web pages are the exclusive property of Jim McCormac, and are protected under United States and International copyright laws. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, stored, distributed or manipulated without written permission. All rights are reserved.

If you contact me requesting free photos, the reply may be long in coming :-)

I've been taking photographs for a few decades, but never became fully interested and engaged in photography until 2003. That's when I got my first digital camera. Since then, photography has become a passion and a steadily growing addiction. If you delve back far enough into this blog, you will see photos that were made with a variety of Panasonic point & shoot bridge cameras. Then came a Canon Rebel DSLR, followed by a Nikon D7000. I've since returned to Canon, and use their gear almost exclusively. My camera bodies are a Canon 5D Mark III, which is an awesome full-frame sensor camera, and a Canon 7D Mark II. The latter is a 1.6 crop factor camera, and I use it almost exclusively for birds and distant wildlife.

The lens bag includes the following Canon lenses: 100mm f/2.8L-macro; the sensational but bizarre MP-E 65 mega-macro; a 180mm f/3.5 macro; a 16-35mm f/4L wide-angle; a 50mm f/1.4; a 100-400 f4.5/5.6 II; and a 500mm f/4L II, sometimes used with a 1.4 extender (which makes it a 700mm). I've also got a Tamron 70-200mm and Sigma 24mm Art (great lenses!). I do lots of macro, and my typical flash gear is the Canon Twin-Lite setup. If the gear needs three-legged stabilization, it is mounted on an Induro tripod, attached to an Induro Gimbal head. Finally, I've got a GoPro Hero, which is fully waterproof and can be used for underwater work. Sometimes I even use the camera or video feature on my iPhone 5S smartphone - it's amazing how good phone cameras have become.

Speaking, guiding gigs 2016

NOTE: Click on listed events for details (inmost cases).

January 16, 2016 - Ohio Ornithological Society's annual winter raptor day at the Wilds, Muskingum County, Ohio. Leading field trip.